Football 9/8/07 -- Augsburg 31, Northwestern-Roseville 26

BOXSCORE

MINNEAPOLIS (9/8/07) -- Jordan Berg (Jr., Gaylord, Minn./Sibley East HS) completed 26-of-39 passing for 276 yards and four touchdowns, leading Augsburg College to a 31-26 victory over Northwestern College-Roseville in a nonconference football game Saturday night at Edor Nelson Field.

Royce Winford (Jr., Brooklyn Park, Minn./Osseo HS) caught seven passes for 103 yards and two touchdowns for the Auggies, while Jason Potts (Jr., Plymouth, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong HS) rushed 24 times for 136 yards. Augsburg put together 405 yards of total offense in its season-opening victory.

Northwestern (0-2 overall) was paced by Steven Boggess (Sr., Grinnell, Iowa), who rushed for 69 yards on 21 carries with three touchdowns. Quarterback Zack Tarter (So., Crystal Falls, Mich./Forest Park HS) threw for 273 yards on 15-of-28 passing with one touchdown for the Eagles, who recorded 397 yards of total offense.

Newcomers Muneer Al-Hameed (Fr., Woodbury, Minn./Minneapolis Washburn HS) and Ryan Schroeder (Sr., Milwaukee, Wis./Oak Creek HS), making their first appearances in an Augsburg uniform, caught touchdown passes in the game, Schroeder's on a 30-yard pass in the first quarter and Al-Hameed on a 19-yard reception late in the fourth period. Al-Hameed caught seven passes for 69 yards, while Schroeder caught six passes for 70 yards.

Winford caught a 43-yard touchdown pass late in the first quarter and a one-yard scoring strike with six seconds left in the first half for the Auggies.

Augsburg also took advantage of four interceptions -- two by Rodney Powell (So., Lakeville, Minn./Lakeville North HS) and one each by Garrett Adamson (Jr., White Bear Lake, Minn./Hill-Murray HS) and Tyler Judkins (So., Lakeville, Minn./Lakeville North HS) -- and two fumble recoveries. Northwestern picked off two Auggie passes -- both interceptions coming from Mike Polley (Jr., Plymouth, Minn./Wayzata HS) -- and gained one fumble recovery.

Kyle Thomforde (Jr., Northfield, Minn.) caught four passes for 105 yards, while Josh Lundeen (Sr., Princeton, Minn./Faith Christian HS) caught seven passes for 69 yards and a touchdown for the Eagles.

Trailing 31-26 midway through the fourth quarter, Northwestern took advantage of a 75-yard pas from Tarter to Thomforde to reach the Augsburg 2-yard line. But the Augsburg defense stopped the Eagles short on four running plays, including a fourth-down attempt with 6:25 left. Northwestern's final two drives ended in interceptions, by Judkins and by Powell.

Making his Auggie debut, Donovan Bates (Jr., White Bear Lake, Minn.) led all players with 15 tackles (one solo), while Adam Ebert (So., Shoreview, Minn./Mounds View HS) had 11 tackles (one solo) and Tony Landecker (Sr., Breezy Point, Minn./Brainerd HS) had 10 tackles (six solo).

Andrew Maagard (So., Ogilvie, Minn.) collected 12 tackles (four solo) for Northwestern, while Polley had nine tackles (seven solo) and Taylor Swanson (So., Monticello, Minn.) had eight tackles (five solo).